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The release of Vale's third-quarter results this week illustrates two key points relevant to the strike by United Steelworkers Local 6500 members against Vale Inco Ltd., says a USW economist.

The $1.7 billion in after-tax profits Vale made from July to September shows Vale Inco does not need to seek "concessions" from its workforce in Ontario, said Erin Weir.

The results also confirm that the strike by 3,300 production and maintenance workers in Sudbury and Port Colborne is costing the company a significant amount of money - more than half a billion by Weir's reckoning.

Vale's third-quarter earnings were down this year from 2008, said Weir, but the Brazilian-based company made twice as much money in the third quarter as it did in the second quarter of 2009.

The company's Q3 report also shows it lost $319 million in revenue in nickel and byproducts in Canada. At the same time, the company incurred an extra $209 million in expenses during the third quarter this year because of what Weir called the "idling of Canadian nickel operations."

USW Locals 6500 in Sudbury and 6200 in Port Colborne have been on strike against Vale Inco since July 13 over what they are calling concessions and the company is calling changes. Another 450 USW Local 9058 members in Voisey's Bay have been on strike since Aug. 1.

Vale Inco Sudbury spokesman Steve Ball said people are forgetting that his company "must be profitable and sustainable over the long term and likewise so must every business unit individually within Vale Inco."